Neighbors thankful for quick action at West Seattle fire

Neighbor Hudson Burke tries to hose down the area to keep a house fire from spreading at 2508 56th Ave S.W., across from Alki Beach. The fire didn’t spread and nobody was injured in the blaze. (Meryl Schenker/P-I)

About 8:40 p.m., Judy Burke was at her home on 56th Avenue Southwest when her husband pounded on the door, yelling to call 911.

Burke wanted to know why. He yelled to come look. When she did, Burke saw flames that “must have been 20- or 30-feet high.”

An Alki Beach waterfront-view duplex and garage at 2508 56th Ave. S.W. was engulfed in flames. Homes the Burke’s had owned for decades were next in line.

“It was terrible,” Burke, 70, said of the fire. “It was already out of control.”

Her husband, Hudson, grabbed a garden hose and soaked down the blue wall of their neighboring house. So did their son, Michael Burke, and others who they believe came from Alki Beach across the street.

An unidentified man tries to hose down the area Thursday while waiting for firefighters to arrive at 2508 56th Ave S.W. across from Alki Beach. (Meryl Schenker/P-I)

“When I came out, there was a second explosion,” Michael Burke said. “Then it really got out of control.

“No garden hose could do anything. All you could do was wait for the fire trucks and try to stay safe.”

When firefighters arrived, the garage was fully engulfed.

“I knew there was a renter downstairs,” Judy Burke said. “She has a son and a dog and a cat.”

Those people weren’t home, fire officials said, and a man who was in one of the units escaped without injury. A firefighter told Burke he saw the cat escape safely, and she believed the dog was with its owner.

The fire caused traffic gridlock for more than an hour as hundreds of people were starting to leave the beach after sunset.

Smoke could be seen billowing across Elliott Bay.

Several neighbors described hearing explosions and some said a propane grill had been used before the fire. But fire investigators did not release a cause or damage estimate Thursday night.

Hudson Burke said he talked to the homeowner, who had left for Arizona where her daughter was expecting a baby. She had been given details by fire investigators and was in contact with her insurance company late Thursday, he said.

The Burke family, though upset for their friends, seemed relieved their homes weren’t damaged, thanks in part to people who grabbed garden hoses.